2015/10/25 by Edward Bormashenko, Bormashenko, Edward, Victor Multanen +11
Engineering · Materials Science · #Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics #FOS: Physical sciences #High voltage insulation and dielectric phenomena #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1510.07219
openalex publication_date 2015/10/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Plasma treatment of polymer films results in their electrical charging, which\nin turn gives rise to an increase in their surface energy. The process results\nin pronounced hydrophilization of the polymer surfaces. A phenomenological\ntheory relating the change in the apparent contact angle of charged solids to\nthe surface density of the electrical charge is introduced. Partial wetting,\ninherent for polymer films, becomes possible until the threshold surface\ndensity of the electrical charge is gained. The predictions of the theory are\nillustrated by plasma-treated polymer films and inflatable latex balloons.\nDeflating the plasma treated latex balloons resulted in an essential increase\nin the surface charge density of the latex. This increase switched the wetting\nregime from partial to complete wetting. The kinetics of hydrophobic recovery\nfollows the kinetics of the electrical charge leakage from the surfaces of the\nplasma treated polymers. The characteristic time of the surface charge leakage\ncoincides with the time scale of the decay of the electret response of plasma\ntreated polymer films.\n